1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to an operating lever structure for a vehicle seat installed in a vehicle, the operating lever structure being operated by an occupant when the position of a seat cushion or the position of a seat back is changed. More specifically, the invention relates to an operating lever structure for a vehicle seat, in which an opening through which a seat belt extends is provided adjacent to a lifting and lowering mechanism that changes the vertical position of the seat cushion, and a fixed end portion of the seat belt is connected to a frame of the seat cushion.
2. Description of the Related Art
A vehicle seat installed in a vehicle includes components, such as a seat cushion and a seat back. An occupant is seated on the seat cushion. The seat back serves as a back rest for the seated occupant. The vehicle seat includes a seat belt that holds the body of the occupant in the seat to improve safety in the event of a crash, or the like. In addition, there is known a seat belt in which a fixed end portion of the seat belt is connected to a frame of a seat cushion so as to reduce a variation in withdrawal length of the belt even when the seat cushion is slid in the longitudinal direction (for example, see Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 10-278736 (JP-A-10-278736)).
Incidentally, some known vehicle seats allow the positions of the above described components to be selectively changed by an occupant. That is, some known vehicle seats allow the vertical position of the seat cushion to be changed by lifting and lowering operation and also allow the back rest position of the seat back to be changed by reclining operation. Note that these operations for changing the positions are carried out by a seat cushion lifting and lowering lever (hereinafter, referred to as lifter lever) and a seat back reclining lever (hereinafter, referred to as reclining lever), and these lifter lever and reclining lever are arranged at a side portion of the seat cushion. In addition, in terms of appearance, or the like, a synthetic resin shielder (hereinafter, referred to as outer shield) is installed to the side portion of the seat cushion, at which the lifter lever and the reclining lever are arranged. Portions of the lifter lever and reclining lever are exposed outside from the outer shield so that the lifter lever and the reclining lever are operable.
If the lifting and lowering mechanism for lifting and lowering the seat cushion is installed onto the frame to which the fixed end portion of the seat belt is connected, there is a problem that it is difficult to ensure space for arranging the lifter lever because the opening through which the seat belt extends and the lifting and lowering mechanism are located adjacent to each other. In addition, installing the outer shield to the side portion of the seat cushion is carried out while checking whether the lifter lever and reclining lever attached beforehand are exposed through two exposing ports formed in the outer shield. Thus, when the outer shield is installed to the side portion of the seat cushion while checking whether the lifter lever is exposed through the exposing port of the outer shield and whether the reclining lever is exposed through the exposing port of the outer shield at the same time, high installation accuracy is required for this installation work. As a result, installation work becomes complicated, and it is inconvenient in terms of workability.